Company says it is responding to growing demand (300 words)

Published: 11/30/2000

DHL International has announced the introduction of a same-day delivery service from Moscow to St Petersburg. Urgent deliveries, comprising documents and parcels up to a maximum of 15 kilograms, received by DHL's Moscow office by 11am will be delivered to the recipient in St Petersburg between 5pm and 8pm the same day. Previously, a next day service had provided the quickest means of delivery. According to Irina Kireeva, Manager, Pricing and Products Development for DHL, the service is unique in the Russian market and was launched in response to growing demand from its regular clients, who were otherwise faced with having to despatch members of staff to courier particularly urgent items, incurring costs such as airline tickets and other travel expenses in the process. Kireeva said that the same day service has involved a reorganisation of DHL's routing system. The company has selected St Petersburg-based Pulkovo Airlines, Russia's second largest airline, in preference to its other airline partners, such as Aeroflot, and will use its regular passenger flight to St Petersburg to carry the urgent cargo, on the grounds that Pulkovo's schedule offered the most convenient times. DHL has appointed a dedicated team of staff to support the same-day service and is hoping that its introduction will appeal to both regular and ad hoc clients, with the view to converting one-off pieces of business into steady revenue. Kireeva stressed that the next day delivery option will continue. The new service costs 100% -150% more than next day delivery. DHL has been operating in Russia and the CIS since 1984 and now has over 120 offices and agencies in all the CIS countries. In Russia, it serves 450 cities. According to Research International, it has a 51% share of the courier service market in Russia.

Article ID: 2220